Carroll v. President and Commissioners of Princess Ann
United States Supreme Court
393 U.S. 175 (1968)
After a provocative public rally by members of a white-supremacist organization (defendants), town officials obtained an ex parte restraining order — without any notice or attempted communication to the defendants — barring a planned rally the following night; the defendants were served just hours before the scheduled rally, and after a hearing ten days later, the injunction was extended for ten months. The Maryland Court of Appeals reversed the ten-month extension but upheld the initial ten-day order, and the defendants sought Supreme Court review.
Whether a temporary restraining order suppressing speech may be issued through an ex parte proceeding without any effort to notify the affected parties.